7 Essentials for Sales Copy that Converts

Whether you’re growing an international coaching career, selling a university-level curriculum, or teaching people how to play harmonica, your numbers are going to grow when your product is paired with copy built on time-tested, rock-solid principles.

And I’m going to show you the ESSENTIALS right here. In just 10 minutes, you’ll have the secrets of the top copywriters in the world. Apply them and you’ll have the advantage over your competition.

1 – Write Headlines that Command Attention

The Headline is the most important part of your sales copy. Why? Because if it doesn’t catch people’s attention, they won’t bother sticking around for your offer. It’s dead in the water. Finito. Done.

Copywriting legend David Ogilvy wrote that on average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. This makes it more valuable than any other part of your copy.

For the headlines that work, use these tips:

Keep your headlines short and punchy. Aim for 8 words or fewer.

A longer subhead is perfectly OK. If the main headline worked, your reader’s already hooked.

Don’t be so clever! Clever is entertaining but doesn’t necessarily sell. If you are a huge company (like PepsiCo), you can afford to be clever. If you want to make sales, be instantly understandable instead.

Use the famous 4U formula that skyrocketed copywriting giant, Agora’s response rates in about 10 seconds, flat. Write headlines that are:

2 – Target the Emotions

Consumers buy with their emotions and justify with logic. Yes, even the super-thinky INTJ’s do it. You need to start with the heart – then talk to the brain.

Start with the “why.” Why is your prospect looking for your course?

Could it be:

Frustration

Impatience

Despair

Loneliness

Lack of Self-Confidence

How about:

Pride

Greed

Ambition

Laziness

Dread

Or perhaps there are positive emotions tied to virtues like:

Optimism

Hope

Charity

Faith

Dig DEEP for the emotional motivation, and start your copy from there.

3 – Have a Big Idea

Use a theme to unite your copy – a big idea that runs throughout the entire piece.

Here are some examples to get you going:

“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

“Doctors do NOT have YOUR best interests at heart.”

“Less is more.”

“Even in a tough economy, you will be able to thrive if you can ____________.”

4 – Be Customer-Centered

It’s not all about you. Keep your focus on what your customers want.

University websites generally do the opposite … have you ever tried to find a spring semester undergraduate academic calendar or a biology faculty member’s contact information through the home page of a state university website? Don’t bother – just Google it. Otherwise, you’re likely only to find features about the latest research, donations, and awards.

That’s because most traditional learning centers are not customer-centered. If your primary goal is to impress your prospect, you’ll lose leads.

What to do instead? Figure out what your ideal prospects want, and give it to them. Put it up front so they can see it clearly in plain language and respond before they’ve even realized what’s happened.

5 – Go for the Pain Points

What BIG annoying problem does your product solve? Show us in real life with an emotion-packed story. Then offer your unique solution.

6 – Make a Big Promise – Then Give Proof

You can fix your prospects’ number one pain point. Tell them you can help. Then back it up with testimonials, awards, facebook followers, sales statistics, success stories, and big $$$ signs.

7 – Keep It Readable

This is one of The Greatest Secrets of copy that converts. The less effort your reader has to spend to get what you’re saying, the easier it will be for him to keep reading … all the way to your Call To Action.

How to test your copy for readability? It’s easy. You can test your copy by checking the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level in MS Word. Working with Mac or Linux? There are both free and premium sites online for this. Try https://readability-score.com/ – it’s fabulous and free.

And there’s one more thing you’ll need for readability. You are going to have to edit carefully for grammar, spelling, spacing, or other errors. Ragged copy will make you look sloppy, unprofessional, and cheap.

So it pays to spend a few extra minutes doing this:

Run your copy through spelling and grammar checks.

Try Grammarly – it has saved me again and again from careless keyboarding errors when my fingers just couldn’t keep up with my thoughts.

Read your copy out loud – even if it’s to the dog. Awkward phrases and stilted language suddenly appear when you do this!

Find a colleague or, even better, a copy editor to give your text a final check.

Have a question? Want to know more? … Or do you just want to let someone else do the writing?